As if computer games aren't bloody enough, the magazines that cover the industry are engaged in a violent war for readers and advertisers.

A German games-magazine publisher has established a beachhead in San Francisco and plans to move into the same building occupied by rival Ziff-Davis. The Germans' first U.S. venture is led by an editor swiped from another big player, Brisbane's Imagine Media.

Rounding out the scene is International Data Group, which has its gaming powerhouse -- GamePro magazine -- headquartered on San Francisco's Second Street.

At stake are magazines serving a computer and video game market that's growing rapidly and ready to surpass the movie industry for entertainment dollars. Sales of game software and hardware reached $6.3 billion last year, compared to movies' $6.8 billion domestic gross.

Last month, the German firm Computec Media said it would move from Redwood City to San Francisco -- to the same building, the former Fashion Center at Eighth and Townsend streets, that now houses game firm Sega of America as well as 343 of Ziff-Davis' 834 Bay Area employees.

Computec already has launched one magazine, MCV: The Market for Home Computing and Videogames, and is vague on further plans. It has 45 employees here and expects to be up to 80 by year's end.

"Computec has their work cut out for them," said Jonathan Simpson-Bint, president of Imagine's entertainment division. "They're going up against two very well-entrenched competitors in Imagine and Ziff-Davis. We've fought very very hard for the market share we've got, and we're not going to give it up lightly."

People at Ziff also are watching Computec's moves. "I don't know why anyone would start from scratch in print," said Vince Broady, co-founder and editorial director of Gamespot. "It's fiercely competitive, and it's really come under fire from online for serving the needs of the user.

"Gaming is a daily passion," Broady said. "How can you serve that using a monthly medium?"

His colleague Dale Strang, the vice president of Ziff's game group, might disagree; after all, Strang's division sells nearly 900,000 of those magazines a month. The PlayStation magazine sells for a hefty $8 on newsstands and does well, thanks to a popular compact disc of game demos that's packaged with the magazine.

Ziff also has added the innovation of putting ads on the disc. Gamers' reactions have yet to be seen.

Imagine, with 90 percent of its 200 employees in the Bay Area, battles Ziff head-to-head with several magazines.

In the realm of games for personal computers, Imagine's PC Gamer US claims a circulation of 350,000 a month, compared to almost 300,000 for Ziff's Computer Gaming World. Three months ago, Imagine bought IDG's PC Games and folded it into PC Gamer; Imagine also publishes PC Accelerator, with a circulation of 100,000.

In the market aimed at Sony PlayStation devotees, Ziff publishes Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, with a circulation of 180,000. Imagine's "unofficial" competitive offering, PSM, sells 250,000 copies a month, and the company says it's the fastest-growing magazine of any kind in the country. Ziff says it's growing, too, and will average 275,000 in the coming year. A smaller company, Dimension Publishing of Folsom (Sacramento County), publishes PS Extreme.

An even more lucrative market is for console games of all platforms. This area is the most competitive: IDG's GamePro boasts a circulation of more than 500,000; Ziff's Electronic Gaming Monthly has 400,000, while its Expert Gamer sells 190,000 copies; and Imagine's Next Generation sells 135,000 copies a month. Lagging the field is Tips and Tricks, published by porn magnate Larry Flynt. (The man clearly understands his audience.)

Imagine said last week that it had snared rights to publish the Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine. Dreamcast is Sega's next- generation gaming console, due out this fall, that will try to chip away the Sony PlayStation's lead.

Earlier this month, Imagine said it was merging with Future Publishing, a British firm which was founded in 1985 by Imagine chief executive Chris Anderson and then sold off in 1994. Imagine says that as a result of the merger, it likely will launch more gamer magazines.

Imagine and Ziff don't compete in the world of online gaming news ever since Imagine spun off its Imagine Games Network as part of a separate entity called Affiliation Networks about four months ago. That site, at www.ign.com, competes with Ziff's Gamespot, Cnet's Gamecenter, Theglobe.com's Happy Puppy, and Unified Gamers Online. And last week, IDG Games Media Group -- publisher of GamePro magazine -- launched an online venture tied to that popular mag, GameProWorld.com.

It's this hotbed of gaming news that Computec is entering, amid widespread rumors -- first of their ambitious plans, then of their scaling back. It's all false, said Christian Svensson, CEO and editor in chief of Computec's MCV USA magazine.

"We're being quite secretive," Svensson said.

But he plans to be successful and to aim at the mass market instead of just teenage boys. "We will launch with a $15 million marketing campaign," he said. "That will make it the largest magazine launch in the last five years. A mass market magazine needs that kind of support."

Computec, a 10-year-old company based in Nuremberg, went public on Germany's Nuer exchange in December and now boasts a $300 million market capitalization.

"We recognize the competitive landscape in North America is very tough. We have a competitive staff that will weasel in the back door when nobody is looking," Svensson said.

That may not work, Christian. Your neighbors at Ziff and Imagine are watching.

But Jeff O'Brien, the editor of the San Francisco trade magazine, says Wildstrom is Mossberg's "heir to the throne."

Wildstrom was in 19th place last year, but O'Brien says "what makes him so influential is that just like Mossberg, on any given week, he can make or break a product. . . . He can kill a whole category.

"He's a techie, a geek at heart, but he can write both technology for the common man and espouse on the future of the industry," O'Brien says.

After Mossberg -- No. 1 in each of the six years of the list -- and Wildstrom, the top five are Bob Evans, editor in chief of CMP's Information Week; John Markoff, a veteran Silicon Valley reporter at the New York Times; and Michael Miller, editor in chief of Ziff-Davis' PC Magazine.

O'Brien dropped Miller down from No. 2 last year. "Ziff-Davis and all the trades have had tough years," he said. "Miller and his team have to figure out what's next for PC Magazine. To some degree, they've been hurt by the Web. How important is it to pick up PC Magazine if all you're looking for is product reviews and you can go to the Web to get them?"

The entire list will be posted online next week at www.marketingcomputers.com. The magazine is available through a free subscription to public relations professionals but is not on newsstands.

O'Brien also let his readers vote this year on the Raspberries, zapping the most difficult publications to work with. The top spot was a tie between Upside magazine and the Wall Street Journal.